Foton unveils four commercial vehicle developments

On August 28, more than 600 industry investors, core customers and supply-chain partners gathered for Foton’s Brand Day. The company put four developments on display at once: the Cangqiong intelligent-driving product architecture platform, the Galaxus R9 heavy truck, the Lefu V7 MPVan and the Kavon Xinghai new-energy flagship heavy truck. Intelligent driving, new energy and overseas markets were placed on the same roadmap.

For autonomous driving in commercial vehicles, the first questions concern operations: Can it reduce accidents, lower energy consumption and ease drivers’ workloads? Foton said that after its heavy trucks were equipped with the Cangqiong B platform, more than 3,000 units were mass-produced and delivered, recording a cumulative 400 million km of safe operation and zero at-fault safety accidents. Cangqiong A is intended for L3/L4 autonomous driving on open roads as a technology reserve; Cangqiong C targets closed environments such as industrial parks, ports and mines; and Cangqiong B covers human-machine co-driving on highways, national roads and urban streets.

This mileage indicates that Foton’s intelligent-driving system has moved beyond laboratory validation to accumulating data from real road conditions, real payloads and real operating environments. Foton said the related R&D began in 2016 and passed through four stages: technology validation, scenario accumulation, mass-production delivery and branding. In 2024, highway navigation-assisted driving entered mass production and delivery. This April, Foton launched its “Cangqiong” intelligent-driving brand.

The new-energy products target the hard constraints of line-haul logistics. The Kavon Xinghai focuses on medium- and long-haul routes of more than 300 km, offering more than 600 km of all-electric range and more than 1,000 km in its hydrogen-fuel-cell version. Its 800V high-voltage liquid-cooled fast charging takes 18 minutes to go from 20% to 80%, while six minutes of charging can add 100 km of range. The 6×4 model consumes 115 kWh per 100 km, compared with 105 kWh for the 4×2 model; Foton says this is 15% to 20% lower than comparable vehicles. The 6×4 model with more than 350 km of range starts at 466,000 yuan, while the 6×4 model with more than 550 km starts at 618,000 yuan. They are supported by a nationwide network of more than 500 dedicated new-energy service outlets.

For customers, this means the Kavon Xinghai is attempting to bring range, energy replenishment and per-kilometer costs back within an operable range at the same time. The Lefu V7 uses 83 kWh and 100 kWh battery options and offers up to 536 km of CLTC range, targeting route passenger transport, tourism and business travel, corporate shuttle services and recreational-vehicle conversions. Overseas, Foton exported 109,000 vehicles in the first half, up 39% year on year, while heavy-truck exports rose by more than 63%. The Galaxus R9 will undergo 15,000 km of validation in the Americas, and Foton also plans to exceed 400,000 overseas annual sales by 2030, with new-energy vehicles accounting for 30%. These key figures were disclosed by Foton; the R9’s suitability for the Americas still awaits validation under actual road conditions.